Chapter 15

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After learning that Zhu Jishi was really going to challenge the British medical community alone, Dr. Blenstein left without saying a word. Mrs. Durand sighed, stood up, and prepared to make dinner. But Zhu Jishi called her back: "Romana, do you have diethyl XU?"

"Diethyl... XU?" Mrs. Durand shook her head, "No."

Zhu Jishi thought for a moment and quickly added, "It's vanilla extract, you use it to make cheese and cream."

"Vanilla extract? Yes, I have it, but what do you need it for?" Mrs. Durand asked curiously.

Zhu Jishi took out the packet of morphine he bought from Frank Haen and placed it on the counter, pointing to it and said, "To refine diethyl XU morphine."

"Diethyl XU morphine?" Mrs. Durand still looked puzzled.

"It's something refined from opium."

"Is it vanilla-flavored opium?" Mrs. Durand picked up the morphine, opened the brown paper packaging, and sniffed it, then smiled and shook her head, "It smells like opium, but very faintly, and the color of this opium is quite strange, it looks a bit like coffee... Where did you buy it?"

"Do you know opium?" Zhu Jishi looked at Mrs. Durand and asked curiously, but then thought this question might be a bit abrupt.

To his surprise, Mrs. Durand smiled and admitted, "Yes, it's medicine. For colds, coughs, headaches, diarrhea, and... when a woman's... you know, that thing doesn't come down, you need to take a little bit." She handed the opium back to Zhu Jishi, "Jason, can I try your vanilla opium when you're done?"

Zhu Jishi was a bit stunned as he looked at Mrs. Durand. This woman was thirty-one years old, her skin was slightly loose, but she was still a radiant beauty, very plump, and in excellent health, far from the image of a gaunt and emaciated opium addict. It seemed she was not a drug addict but just treated opium as ordinary medicine.

Zhu Jishi sighed inwardly. After staying in Britain in 1842 for a while, he already knew that opium was very widespread here, probably no better than in China. Just look at the medicine warehouse in the Omen Hospital; at least 60% of the medicines contained opium, and opium paste itself was the most stockpiled medicine! In the current Britain and even throughout Europe, it seemed no one thought opium was a bad thing. There was even a British literary figure, De Quincey, who wrote an essay called "The Opium Eater," praising opium to the skies.

However, in this Europe where opium was used without any regulation, there were not many social problems caused by opium. Although almost everyone had used opium, very few people became addicted and could not break free.

But Zhu Jishi also knew that the heroin he was about to make was much more potent than opium. In the future, there would be many heroin addicts in Western countries. Of course, if used correctly, heroin could also benefit humanity. For the first two or three decades after its introduction, heroin was sold as a legal drug on the market. Even in the 21st century, when heroin was banned in most countries, it was still legally sold in Britain—of course, under strict regulation as a highly effective painkiller, with annual sales exceeding 300 kilograms...

"What? Don't want to?" Mrs. Durand smiled.

"No, no, no," Zhu Jishi waved his hands, "It's not to make vanilla-flavored opium, but to refine a medicine that is much more effective than opium, probably dozens of times more effective."

"Dozens of times?" Mrs. Durand exclaimed, "So a little bit would have a miraculous effect? Jason, are you really confident you can make it?"

"Of course, I am, but..." Zhu Jishi looked at Mrs. Durand uncertainly, "Romana, do you really want to try it?"

To be honest, he had a good impression of this woman. Although she was quite flirtatious and probably loose, this was not a big deal for a single French woman. You couldn't expect her to be as virtuous as the women in China at that time. So Zhu Jishi was very reluctant to let her get addicted to heroin.

"Is there a problem?" Mrs. Durand blinked her big eyes and smiled seductively at Zhu Jishi, "Are you worried the new drug might not be safe? It seems you still have a conscience. How about this, I'll have Henry help you test the drug for free, how about that? He has been using opium since he was a child and now takes a few puffs every day to refresh himself. I think he would be interested in your new drug."

"Using opium since childhood!?" Zhu Jishi looked at Mrs. Durand in disbelief.

Mrs. Durand nodded and explained with a smile, "What's wrong? Didn't you know that many mothers give their crying babies a little opium to calm them down? And opium can also reduce hunger, so some poor mothers use opium to save food, of course, that was when opium was relatively cheap..."

Henry was the French tailor Mrs. Durand hired, who usually worked diligently and didn't talk much. Who would have thought he was an addict!

Zhu Jishi thought for a moment and finally nodded in agreement. If it weren't for Mrs. Durand's reminder, he would have almost forgotten about the drug testing. Although he knew how to refine morphine and synthesize heroin, he only had a theoretical understanding of how to use heroin to benefit the European people. He needed to experiment to determine the appropriate amount of heroin to add to cough syrup, various painkillers, asthma medication, antidepressants, and tuberculosis syrup. Thus, the first victim of Zhu Jishi's drug trafficking in this time and space was born.

...

Oxfordshire, Denave Villa.

"You mean that Tartar wants to publish his theory on 'surgical disinfection' in a major newspaper like The Times?"

While Zhu Jishi was working late to test heroin, Dr. Blenstein had rushed to Denave Villa in the outskirts of Oxford and met Lady Isabella Denave, who had just returned home from a ball at the Almack's Club. He told her that Zhu Jishi planned to expose the poor hygiene conditions in British hospitals and the irresponsible surgical disinfection practices of British doctors in The Times, which were the root causes of puerperal fever and post-surgical infections leading to death!

"This Tartar is crazy! He doesn't plan to stay in England, no, in Europe!?" The lady's face fell, and she inwardly lamented her recent bad luck. The fat Churchill had already been ordered by his elder brother, the Duke of Marlborough, to cut ties with her! Will Heming had been dismissed from the British Army, his life was over, and he left London in despair, now working as a low-paid journalist. And this Tartar doctor she introduced to her sister, who seemed to have a promising future, had apparently taken too much of something and was now overly righteous, wanting to challenge the incompetent doctors of the Royal Medical Society!

But who did he think he was? Genghis Khan or Tamerlane? Even if he were their descendant, he was just a penniless exile in present-day Europe, no match for the titled doctors.

Blenstein also looked regretful, frowning and thinking, "I don't know what this Tartar is thinking, he really believes he can use experiments and truth to refute the entire European medical authority, which is too naive. Lady, perhaps you should talk to your friends in the press and ask them not to..."

The lady interrupted him, "This is his own doing, how can I stop him? But..."

The lady frowned, "Dr. Blenstein, do you think Jason has a chance to really put those incompetent doctors in their place?"

Blenstein shook his head vigorously, "Impossible, absolutely impossible. Although he may be right, this is not a fair debate. His opponents are the authorities of the entire European medical community, and these authorities are also the judges of the debate! Unless they admit defeat themselves, Dr. Zhu will never win... But how could these old stubborn men admit defeat? Absolutely impossible!"

The lady sighed softly, "It seems I have to go to London myself for my dear sister. She seems to have taken a liking to this handsome Tartar recently."

Blenstein said, "Yes, yes, you might be able to persuade him. Lady, to be honest, this Tartar doctor is the most outstanding young doctor I have ever met. If he were white, he would surely become a member of the Royal Medical Society in no time."

The lady paused, "Will would have been the same. If it weren't for that damned duel, he could have become a general or even a marshal! Perhaps I should have decisively ended things with that fat Robert back then..."

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